Cheeky Mark Cuban and Trophy Companion Take in Vancouver Riots

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Preserving History: Take Your Talents Elsewhere

After each major sporting event, HHR takes a look at how it is portrayed in news print in some of the nation's leading dailies. Part out of curiosity, and part to preserve the dying medium.

Not sure if my favorite headline is "Mavalanche" or "Canned Heat."

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Charlie Crist's Limp-Wristed Throwing Style

Lambda Lambda Lambda’s Lamar Latrell Florida Governor/Senate Candidate Charlie Crist threw out the first pitch today ahead of Game 2 in Tampa.



Things appear to be going just swimmingly for the effete governor as this is sure to help erase his 15 point deficit in the polls.

On second thought, this could help his chance of scoring a sweet cabinet gig with Obama should he come up short…



-Blue Pulaski, Senior Pitching Analyst.

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NJ.com Dives Into the Inevitable Sanchez-Namath "Stud" Comparison

From the site's New York Jets Fan Zone:

This comparison is inevitable, isn't it? Hall of Fame Jets quarterback of the 1960s and 70s, Joe Namath vs. hot-shot current Jets' QB Mark Sanchez. Namath won the Jets' only Super Bowl against the very team Sanchez is preparing to face on Sunday - the Colts - in a game tied with the 1998 AFC Championship game as the biggest Jets game since that Super Bowl III win in January 1969. So let's examine the records closely and determine who is the Ultimate Jets' Stud QB.

Criteria is as follows:

• Pre-pro hype
• Caught on tape
• Eligible bachelor status
• Sexy shoots
• Talkin' the talk
• Rookie year
• Facial hair

You can read the post here.

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DeSean Jackson Fan Not Pleased with Announcing Effort by Collinsworth & Michaels

As if watching your team get shellacked for the second consecutive week by the Cowboys weren't bad enough, not even Bud 40s and pantomime masturbation could help this young man stomach the sound of Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels.

It's actually heartbreaking how defeated he looks at the end.

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Dunbar the Dutch: NFL Wildcard Picks

After watching Jimmy the Greek on ESPN last night instead of Texas' Gilbert trying to throw a football, I am in the gambling spirit.

If I or a co-worker named Nick Papageorgio were headed to Vegas this weekend for the NFL Wildcard games, these may (or may not) be the games I put money on without Lady Dunbar knowing.

• Dallas over Philly - the D has their number this year and have the answer to DeShaun Jackson or is it DaSheawn (this prediction may not be shared by other writers on the HHR staff)
• Green Bay over Arizona - after watching NFC North games all season, I know GB is tough and Rodgers can whip the ball. Arizona seems as soft and gooey as Kurt Warner's 38 year-old grocery clerk gut this season.
• Bengals over Jets - Jets have played garbage over the last few weeks, time for the Bengals to lockdown and test the Jets' run defense with emotions running higher than, well, the Bengal's locker room.
• Ravens over the Pats - I've watched plenty of Baltimore games this year, they're my 2010 team as I need to find another team to enjoy while being a Lions fan. The Welker injury hurts, and Baltimore has played tough competition all season with bounces that, if gone their way, they would have a bye this week. Look for the upset especially with the spread. Can't pick Pats because they are the Pats anymore.

One of the great weekends in sports. Who knows, I may be able to stay awake for the entire 8 pm Saturday game. But history indicates that I will fall asleep on the couch while holding a glass of scotch on my belly.

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Separated at Birth: Fat Joe Martin

I had been wondering all series why Dodger C Russell Martin's jersey reads "J. Martin". Now I relaize it's in reference to his alter-ego, rapper Fat Joe.

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Separated at Birth: Ryan Franklin, Murderball

From CR Dunbar to HHR's resident Cards fan, Rev. Shaw Moore:

"Did I see that the guy from Murder Ball is a relief pitcher for the Cards? Franklin?"

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Mets Marketing Team Taking Advantage of Playoff Fever

How sad is this for the Mets? While their rivals send out playoff ticket invitations/onsale info, they're soliciting high school kids.

Bet you wish you were still in high school so you could get a job as a Mets intern, don't you?

H/T: Bunch

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Dwight Howard Gets His Vitamins

With the Kobe/LeBron campaign up in flames, Vitamin Water rolls out a Dwight Howard spot...



Don't worry, LeBron. I'm sure ShopRite would still love to have you promote their "Water & Vitamins."

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Have You Gotten Your BlogsWithBalls Tickets Yet?

"'78": Boston, Busing, Baseball and Bucky Fn Dent; Q&A with Author Bill Reynolds

In the Spring and Fall of 1978, Red Sox fans saw their beloved team lose a 14-game lead over the hated New York Yankees, which included a four-game sweep at Fenway by the Yanks and forced a one-game playoff for the AL East title. Fans were fixated on the October 2 game, which would go on to earn light-hitting shortstop Bucky Dent his endearing (and enduring) profane nickname. The city was also burning under the national spotlight over the politically and socially volatile issue of forced busing over which the otherwise liberal-minded city and its residents became viewed as racially hostile as the Deep South.


As violent protests raged, though eventually subsided even as the issue persisted, baseball served as a unifier, an escape.

In Boston, where politics and baseball are inherited religions, author Bill Reynolds takes us back in '78: The Boston Red Sox, a Historic Game, and a Divided City, and examines the dual relationship of the city with its communities and its team during the tumultuous era.


HuggingHaroldReynolds: Was your intention to write a historical/social issue piece or a baseball book? Where did the idea come from to marry the two?

Bill Reynolds: My idea was to write what I hoped would be an interesting book, one that used a great baseball game as the thread to get at larger issues. I’ve long believed that sports are not an island unto themselves, but an integral part of the culture. The idea came from going to a Red Sox game a couple of years ago and speaking to some fans – one at about 40, the other in his early 30’s, and both from New England – who had no idea that the busing crisis had ever existed.

HHR: The busing order came about in '74, and you go on to characterize the '77-78 school year as "relatively tranquil" - why then draw the parallels between these two particular events - busing & the '78 playoff game? Why not, say, the '75 Series?

BR: I liked the fact that even though things are starting to quiet down, the furor over busing and the ramifications of it remain. I also liked the fact that it had already gone on for four years, and felt like in ’75 it had just been a year.

HHR: Save a few Bill Lee quotes and a random PSA or two, the players were both physically disconnected and vocally silent on the busing and race issues and accompanying violence. Given the view of Red Sox baseball as an escape from these harsh realities, were the players better served remaining politically neutral despite local volatility?

BR: Even though with the exception of Bill Lee the players avoided speaking about the issue, busing was like the elephant in the clubhouse, to the point that for several of them it took over a decade to speak about it, specifically for Jim Rice, Luis Tiant, and Fred Lynn. I’m not surprised, though—busing and race was such a volatile issue then that there was no way they could win back then by commenting on it.

HHR: How at fault were politicians and community leaders, many of whom have gone on to successful political careers - others who saw their aspirations extinguished, in stoking the fires?

BR: I feel that that many of the political and community leaders also were caught in a no-win situation, especially Mayor Kevin White, who had national aspirations and saw them blown up by busing. The issue was simply too ugly and too divisive to have any political figure emerge from it unscathed, regardless of where they were on the issue.

HHR: In 2004 Barry Bonds noted his unwillingness to play in Boston because it was "too racist," and an article as recent as last year MLB analyst and scribe Ken Rosenthal highlighted the team's current lack of African-Americans (while reminding us of the Sox's notorious racial history). How much of the recent perceptions are based on the city's past as opposed to present realities? Has the city actually come that far?

BR: I think those perceptions are all based on the past. In the past decade you can make a case that the three most popular players in Fenway were Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz, and that the perception of Boston as being a racist city is also in the past. That doesn’t mean race is not an issue in Boston, but then again race is an issue in America, and I don’t think Boston is unique in this regard.

HHR: After years of his coming up short, what are both your professional and personal thoughts on Jim Rice finally gaining enshrinement to Cooperstown. Which was a bigger factor that held him back - his perceived attitude amongst sports writers or his lack of coming through in any notable big, clutch moment?

BR: There’s no doubt that Rice’s miserable relationship with the media through the years didn’t help him, but he also never had those huge signature moments in his career that arguably would have gotten him inducted earlier.

HHR: Can you elaborate on the notion that fans can cheer on players of different races and nationalities, when they perform for their respective teams, but still hold a NIMBY view of others when it comes to their communities?

BR: I think that’s the nature of fandom and, on a deeper level, the more we get to know people the less we are bothered by race, and we feel we know athletes.

HHR: Can baseball really serve as a healing salve for social issues?

BR: Sports can help be a healing salve for social issues, in that they can bring people of different races and backgrounds together for a while in a common cause, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to eradicate all the problems.

HHR: What have the lessons of '78 taught the city of Boston and the country as a whole that watched the actions transpire?

BR: That’s a great question, and one I really don’t have an answer for. I do think, though, that one of the lessons learned from Boston’s busing tragedy was that nobody won, that all the years and all the hate and all the violence and in then end everyone lost. Maybe that’s the enduring lesson.

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Have You Gotten Your BlogsWithBalls Tickets Yet?

Pierre McGuire on Tim Thomas Naked

Whether watching in Canada on TSN, or the replay on Vs, you might have heard this head-scratching commentary by Game 7's announcers after a pair of Thomas saves between the 3:30 and 3 mark in the third period.

OK, who are we kidding? You weren't watching hockey. So here you go...

"You see him without his clothes on, you say to yourself, there's no way this guy's a professional athlete. But, man oh man, he gets after it."

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Have You Gotten Your BlogsWithBalls Tickets Yet?

Dwight Howard's Superhuman Swat

In case you missed it last night during the Magic's defeat of the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their playoff series, Dwight Howard of the Magic just destroyed a shot by Ray Allen into the crowd behind the basket. Howard is no stranger to shot blocks, but this one looked like he was about to jump out of the gym.

Two things that made me realize this was a little extra special.

First was Marv Albert's call. Marv has been around the game a while now and doesn't break out the high enthusiasm unless it was warranted - and he got up on this one.

Second, watch as Howard uses his left hand as a support...on the backboard! You know you are getting up when you are bracing yourself on the backboard after smacking someone's shot in the stands. Howard looks like he came in off a trampoline, but I guess that's why they call him Superman.

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Have You Gotten Your BlogsWithBalls Tickets Yet?

@DwightHoward Loves Him Some Ivan Putski

Having been suspended for last night's series-clinching game against the 76ers, Orlando's Superman Dwight Howard was "Tweeting on" his Magic teammates like a schoolgirl, while showing his affection for former WWF Tag Team Champion Ivan Putski:

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Have You Gotten Your BlogsWithBalls Tickets Yet?

HHR Cup: 3 Idiots Prove Knowledgeable

Now that that hangovers have worn off and the Super Bowl coverage is fading, HHR is proud to announce the winner of the 2nd Annual HHR Cup.


Along with bragging rights, 3 Idiots on Sports, as well as the first 2 runners-up will receive a snazzy HHR Big Game '09 T-Shirt.

Final Standings:


Thanks to all of this year's competitors:

• HHR's Ren, Woody, Cynic and part-time contributer and commentor Assasin Ave.
• The Camel Clutch's Eric Garugulo
• 3 Idiots on Sports' Russianator
• Not Qualified to Comment's JD
• Going Five Hole/Yahoo Hockey Blog's Sean Leahy
• CardsDiaspora.com's Aaron Hooks
• Sports Agent Blog's Darren Heitner
• One for the Other Thumb's Cotter
• Bugs & Cranks' Lady Andrea
• Walker of Walker Sports
• The Jets Blog's Brian Bassett
• The Crew from East Coast Bias
• NESW's Ethan Jaynes
• Real Clear Sports' Ryan Hudson
• NE Patriots Draft's James Christensen
• WFNY's Scott
• The Sports Complex's James Beale
• The Zoner

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Steeler Nation Already Coining Nicknames for XLIII's Memorable Plays

"The Immaculate Interception"

(Or as the cool kids are calling it, "I2" or "I Squared")

Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images

"Ben to Ten"

Photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters

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Preserving History: The Joy of Six

After each major sporting event, HHR takes a look at how it is portrayed in news print in some of the nation's leading dailies. Part out of curiosity, and part to preserve the dying medium.

Today we document the unapologetic crotch shot Bruce Springsteen gave America, which until the 4th quarter was the only noteworthy event of last night's game Pittsburgh Steelers' unprecedented sixth Super Bowl title.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Arizona Daily Star

Lehigh Valley (PA) Express Times

Trentonian

Seattle Times

Seattle PI

Philadelphia Inquirer

New York Times

New York Post

New York Daily News

LA Times

Dallas Morning News

Denver Post

Chicago Sun Times

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Bston Herald

Boston Globe

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Post-Gaming with Craigslist

Usually we go ahead and take a look at what's on tap for a major sporting event by seeing what goods and services are being bartered on Craiglist. Craigslist - for those too lazy to use Stubhub and Adultfriendfinder separately.

Sometimes, however, it's just as fun to check out the post-game analysis, taunting and whining going on there.

Here are a few of my favorites from the Philly page (Warning - potty mouths):

Bitch ass losers eagles

Bitches will never win anything. Everybody wants to talk about BO today what happen you little whiney losers? Never won not one dam Super Bowl. LLLLOOOOSSSSEEEERRRSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

McChoke is the Best First Place Loser in the NFC Chapionship Game

I have to give you pathetic Eagles fans some props, McChoke is the best first place loser in a NFC Championship Game. He has managed to take you to 5 games and lose 4. You get what you deserve, sweet dreams you sorry ass losers, cry like T.O. or do us all a favor and pull the trigger so all that pain will go away. LMAO Go Cardinals

Smile NOW McNabb (Dallas)

fuck you asshole. Smile now you pompous bastard. you and your fucking eagles got what you deserve. good riddance.

GO CARDINALS!!!

Eagles Win!!!!!!!

Get me out of this bucket.Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

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